Honda 2014 Motorsports Program Overview

In the MotoGP, the premier class of the FIM*1 Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix Series, Honda turned in a “triple crown” by taking all three titles last season - the riders’, team, and constructors’ championships. Farther afield, Honda’s factory team also competed in the Dakar 2014 in January of this year and marked its steady progress by winning 6 out of the rally’s 13 stages in only its second year of participation. This year, Honda engages as Team HRC in the FIM Motocross World Championship Series (MXGP, formerly WMX) and FIM Trial World Championship Series (WCT).

Based on our desire to satisfy the expectations of many customers and fans as a manufacturer of motorcycles in all categories, we at Honda are determined to raise our commitment to the four categories of road racing, motocross, trials world championships, and the newly added the Dakar.

In the MotoGP, the Repsol Honda Team will again put forward the lineup of Marc Marquez, who made history last year as the youngest champion ever in his very first season of MotoGP competition, paired with Dani Pedrosa who won the 3rd place. Repsol Honda Team aims to win the three titles for the second season running. In addition to its factory team*2, two satellite teams*3 will be equipped with machines supplied by Honda, for a total of three teams and four riders representing Honda in the MotoGP.

In the premier MXGP (450 cc) class of the FIM Motocross World Championship Series (MXGP, formerly the WMX), Honda will compete with its new Team HRC. In another new start this season, Honda will race the new CRF450RW factory machine, and with the two riders of Evgeny Bobryshev and Maximilian Nagel aims to create a team that can take the podium at any given race.

In the FIM*1 Trial World Championship Series (WCT), inheriting the spirit of glorious Repsol Montessa Team, the new Repsol Honda Team will compete as the Honda’s factory team, racing two Cota 4RT machines equipped with 4-stroke engines. The team will feature the two riders of Toni Bou, the dominant champion for the past seven years, and Takahisa Fujinami, the only Japanese rider in WCT racing, as it eyes the championship again with this solid WTC lineup.

Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) will be active not only in top-notch racing of this caliber but also in the promotion of commercially available racing machines. The RCV1000R, which will be raced by four riders representing three different teams in the new MotoGP Open category, will be put on the market by HRC. HRC also plans to launch the CRF450 Rally from the Dakar by the end of this year.Through these actions, Honda aims to provide equivalent machines or near-twins of its factory team machines to more and more customers, as part of its efforts to further expand the popularity of motorcycle racing.

*1 FIM: Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme
*2 Factory team: A team managed directly by the manufacturer that creates the racing machine
*3 Satellite team: A team that competes in a race by using a factory machine created by the manufacturer that manages the factory team and managed their team by their own